


The Doctor and The Professor

by ririsutty



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Actor Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch - Freeform, F/M, Jeremy Irons - Freeform, Kenneth Brannagh, Peter Capaldi - Freeform, Rupert Everett - Freeform, Tuppence Middleton
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4912777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ririsutty/pseuds/ririsutty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a strange door is found in the ruins of an old warehouse Professor Lily Atherton and her team are called to investigate.<br/>Where does the door lead too? When the Doctor arrives trouble can't be far behind</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

**Prologue**

 

 

The sound of the water dripping from the ceiling echoed through the passageway. The only other sound was that of breathing coming from its two occupants as they cautiously picked their way through. The sole source of light coming from the torch the man held aloft in one hand; the other held the hand of the frightened young woman who followed behind. Every once in a while he would turn to check on her; the torch causing shadows on his face to contort his features.

 

“Papa where are we going?” she said meekly.

“Not far now my child.” He replied softly.

“Papa I’m scared. Why were those men chasing us?”

This time the man didn’t reply but only pulled her along faster.

 

A sound behind stopped them in their tracks.

“They have found the entrance! We must be quick.”

 

He broke into a run pulling the near frantic girl behind him. She tried her best not to fall on the uneven ground beneath them; blocking out the sound of the oncoming footsteps.

 

The frantic pair rounded the last corner to be faced with a heavy metal door. Talok let go of his daughter’s hand she was shaking; he placed his palm on the reader. The door gave an audible hiss and swung inward. Talok smiled reassuringly and guided her through.

 

The room beyond was full to bursting with gadgets, computers and other things she didn’t recognise. Talok checked the door was sealed and disappeared further into the workshop. After a few minutes he came back to collect her and found she had slunk to the floor; shivering and with her arms around her knees.

 

“We are safe in here now.” He soothed as he knelt in front of her.

 

“Papa who are they? Why are we running from them?”

 

“Do you trust me?”

 

“Always Papa.” She breathed as she lifted her tearstained face to him.

 

Talok thought his heart would break. As he stood he felt the universe on his shoulders. His child looked to him with innocence in her eyes, they had lost so much and now they would lose……. What he was about to do would change both their lives for ever.

 

“Come with me?” he said softly holding out his hand.

 

 

Hand in hand they went further into the strange room. She could hear noises up ahead; Talok gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. He pulled back some tarpaulin and took them both through. On the other side was more machinery and a large wooden door. He let go of her hand and went to the instruments. The door seemed to lead to nowhere. Standing there waiting to be opened; but to where. She circled it with interest. It was panels were ornately carved; tracing the carvings she felt it hum beneath her hand.

 

“Where have you been? I was starting to think you weren’t coming?”

 

The new voice startled her and she ran to her father.

 

“Ran into a little trouble on the way in.” Talok said turning to see the young man who had entered.

 

“Trouble what kind of trouble?” Marteus’ hand went to his side and his weapon.

 

“Nothing we should be worried about now.”

 

“Papa?”

 

“It’s ok, this is my associate Marteus.” Talok said putting a reassuring arm around his daughters shoulder.

 

Marteus stood stoically looking to the older man waiting for more information. When none came he looked at the young woman who stood trembling at his side. This was his charge. She was a waif of a thing, skinny and afraid. Why her? He shook his head and walked over to the bench to check his belongings.

 

Talok was finishing the calculations when there was an explosion. The strangers had managed to breech the outer door and were coming through. Marteus looked worriedly at him and grabbed his bag.

 

“Papa what’s going on?”

 

Talok ignored her and frantically pressed the button to start the process.  A loud humming suddenly filled the air and the door slowly opened.

 

“Papa please they are coming.”

 

He sighed and turned to Marteus and nodded.

 

“I’m sorry so so sorry.” Talok choked as the tears he had been holding back came forth in earnest.

 

“I don’t understand?” she cried as Marteus took hold of her arm and started to pull her towards the door.

 

A shot narrowly missed as two guards came to a halt in front of them.

 

Marteus looked at Talok for their next move, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. Marteus took a deep breath and pulled the girl the rest of the way to the door. She screamed as another shot hit its mark; it being her father. The rest of her screams and tears swallowed by the portal beyond the door.

 

Shouting she could hear someone shouting. Her stomach was churning and her head was pounding. Weakly she raised her head and opened her eyes a crack. She could make out the shapes of three figures. They seemed to be fighting. Suddenly there was one figure the others seemed to have disappeared. She closed her eyes and lowered her head. Someone shoved at her shoulder.

 

“Can you stand?”

 

She tried to reply but only a croak came out. The person cursed and she felt herself being rolled onto her back and strong arms lifting her up. She couldn’t fight back her strength was gone. All she could do was curl herself into the warm chest and hope that death would come swiftly.

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

The sound of her phone dancing around her dining table woke her with a start. She had fallen asleep working again. Lily Atherton the workaholic; amongst other things. Gingerly she lifted her head and worked the kinks from her neck and patted down the table in the attempt to find her phone. As her hand found its mark it stopped. Sighing she looked at the fallout of last night’s project. Various pictures of crime scenes, lab tests, an empty pizza box and three empty cups. Running a hand through her mussed black hair she went to the kitchen to get something to wake her up.

 

Lily balanced her phone between her shoulder and ear as she opened the fridge. Mentally chastising herself for having nothing but out of date milk, one sausage and some orange juice she waited for an answer. Favouring the juice over the dodgy looking milk she took a swig straight from the carton. Hell she was the only one who drank it. Wiping her mouth she set it on the counter for later.

 

“Mason.”

 

“Hey it’s me.”

 

“Lily sorry. We got a call to attend.”

 

Lily’s shoulders slumped. She was officially on leave. Well as officially as she could be still pouring over case notes until the early hours.

 

“Let Carswell handle it. He’s been itching to try and show us up!”

 

Charlotte Mason. Her second in command her right hand woman/ girl Friday. They had been working together for 5 years and were in tune with each other. It was almost like they shared the same brain. Charlotte was a little younger than her at 25. Her love life was better than any soap opera. She was invaluable. Not that Lily told her…. Well not too often.

 

“Tried that already. It’s come from you know who.”

 

The you know who in question was Detective Inspector Roland Green. The thorn in many aside including his own band of merry little men. He was a force to be reckoned with and woe betide you vexed him. You would take your indiscretion to the grave and beyond. He was a good man and got the job done, but silly things like being on leave and or dead made no difference to him.

 

“Crap! What we got?” she breathed exhausted.

 

“Warehouse on the edge of town. They are knocking down to make way for more of the expensive god awful boxes they call flats. They found…. Look get dressed I’ll be over in 30 minutes and I can give you the proper low down then.”

 

“Ok but I am going to need tea!”

 

“I know English Breakfast right?”

 

“You’re a lifesaver. Oh Charlotte?”

 

“Yep?”

 

“You better make that 45 minutes.”

 

Lily stood in her bedroom doorway and scanned her room. The wardrobe door was open and contained nothing. Her drawers seemed to be just as empty. She disconnected the call and set about finding something to wear.

 

 

 

 

“Seriously?” Charlotte gasped.

 

“What?” Lily asked shocked.

 

“I can’t believe in 45 minutes that’s all you could find to wear.”

 

“I know. It was all I had that was clean.”

 

“He will chew you up and spit you out!”

 

“Well let’s hope he chokes.” Lily said with a wry grin getting into their van to retrieve some bits.

 

Charlotte laughed to herself as she heard cursing and banging coming from inside. Eventually a flustered Lily emerged with her trusty metal case and torches.

 

“It’s a mess in there.” Lily said straightening the man’s white shirt she had teamed with a black belt and yoga pants.

 

“I believe you were the last in there!” Charlotte grinned.

 

“Oh please when?” Lily had knelt down to tie an errant lace on her converse boot.

 

“I seem to remember you offered to show DS Robson your microscope. Well at least I think that’s what you said.”

 

Slowly Lily raised her head. She shot a look of pure thunder in Charlotte’s direction.

 

Charlotte held her hands up in defence.

 

“For your information I sure as hell didn’t need a microscope!”

 

Charlotte laughed.

 

“Ok let’s get it over with.” Lily said picking up her stuff.

 

“Here comes trouble.” Charlotte said picking up her bag.

 

Lily let out a frustrated sigh as she saw DI Green walking in their direction.

 

“Atherton. So glad you decided to join us.” He snarked.

 

“Green. Always a pleasure to interrupt my downtime.”

 

He gave her outfit the once over.

 

“Are you raising money for charity?”

 

“Sorry?”

 

“Your choice of workwear.”

 

Lily stood shocked and pulled herself up to her full height.

 

“My bad. I didn’t realise there was a dress code for examining dead bodies.”

 

Charlotte stifled a giggle which earnt a stern look from both of them.

 

“Atherton I am the senior officer on this and I expect you to treat me as such.” Green growled.

 

“I think you will find that is Professor Atherton, Detective Inspector. You called us remember. I am here to do my job because you and I both know that Carswell doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.” Lily said defiantly. “So if you are quite finished showing my assistant and I how your ego compares to the size of your truncheon I’d like to get on.”

 

He muttered something under his breath and escorted them to the site.

 

Charlotte had grabbed some coveralls for them both and they were putting them on as some of Green’s team walked by.

 

“So let’s go and see what these brainless idiots have done.” Lily said switching on her torch and picking up her kit bag.

 

They picked over rubble obviously caused by the demolition crew. Dust hung in the air causing Charlotte to sneeze.

 

“Is this some kind of joke?” Lily said as she surveyed the room.

 

“What?”

 

“This is a wind up right? Look at the place. Who did the dressing Madame Tussauds? Come on! They dragged me in for this?” Lily said gesturing around her.

 

“Us...”

 

“What?” Lily spat.

 

“Us they dragged us in!” Charlotte reminded her.

 

“Sorry.” She said with and apologetic smile. “What the hell are we dealing with here?”

 

“This place is scheduled for demolition and as the foreman and his team were doing their last sweep of the place they stumbled on this. It seems to be an office of some sorts due to the filing cabinet etc. We have 2 bodies in various states of decay. At first glance I would say they had been here between 10 and 15 years.”

 

“Good, good.”

 

Lily was crouched in front of one of the bodies. It was slumped against the wall, eyes long since wasted away, what skin was left hung from the bones like sheets flapping in the wind. She let her torch beam wander down the body and stopped at the chest. The breast bone was obliterated leaving a gaping hole where it once was.

 

“Jesus… Charlotte look at this!”

 

Charlotte came over and crouched with her.

 

“Cripes whoever did this meant business the other poor sod is the same. The question is what kind of weapon could cause that?”

 

“Who knows? Something tells me we don’t want to be on the receiving end of it whatever it is.”

 

“We have a bigger mystery.” Charlotte breathed as she got to her feet.

 

“We do?” Lily asked confused, standing and looking in the direction of Charlotte’s torch beam.

 

“Yep… like what the hell is that door doing here and where the frack it leads to?”

 

Her torch beam illuminated a rather large wooden door; which would be a normal occurrence had it not been in the middle of the room. Lily gingerly walked towards it. Intricate carvings could just be seen in the artificial light of her torch. They were emblems she had never seen before. Unsure of what to do she cautiously reached out and ran a finger over its surface. She snatched her hand back when she felt the wood almost hum beneath her fingers.

 

“Ok colour me officially freaked out!” Lily said shakily backing away. “Why do I get the feeling that the men in black are coming to cart us off?”

 

“How do you think it got here?” Charlotte asked bemused.

 

“I haven’t got a clue but that’s not our bag anyway we’re here for the bodies.” Lily said regaining her focus and going to fetch her things.

 

“You gotta wonder where it goes to though?”

 

“Right now it’s giving me the heeby jeebies and we need to get on before Green puts in another appearance.”

 

 

 

They were both glad to get out their sweaty, filthy coveralls and decided to take their samples back to the lab for further analysis. Lily was glad to be out of there the place made her uneasy.

 

“Professor?”

 

As their eyes acclimatised to being outside again they saw a figure walking towards them. At first Lily’s stomach dropped but as they came closer she gave a sigh of relief.

 

“DS Robson this is a pleasant surprise.” She could hear Charlotte beaming at her side.

 

Thankfully Detective Sergeant Mark Robson was quite the opposite of his superior. He was more quiet and brooding than brash and condescending. His cool blue eyes gave away nothing. He stood before them hands in the pockets of his trousers looking like the shy teenager wanting to take them out on a date. Not that he was short on dates. You only had to look at his blonde ever so slightly curled hair, cheekbones sharp enough to cut paper, proud nose, thin but enticing lips and hands that could sculpt the most delicate of art pieces to see that. His suit seemed to be struggling to stay on his body and his shirt buttons in fear of taking someone’s eye out.

 

“Charlotte. You look well…” he said kicking at an imaginary stone.

 

“Thanks I think.” She said confused. “I’m going to put the stuff in the van. It was nice…” Charlotte started to walk away.

 

Lily saw her over Mark’s shoulder smiling and giving her the thumbs up.

 

Shaking her head she returned her attention to the man in front of her.

 

“So what’s the verdict?” Mark asked running his hand through his hair.

 

“Well I’m sorry to have to report we were too late. They are in fact dead.”

 

“That’s going to cut down on the paper work.” He smirked.

 

“We’ve taken what we need, your lot had actually been careful for a change.” Lily said with a hint of sarcasm.

 

“Look I’m sorry about the other night.”

 

“Which part? The part where you stood me up or the part where you couldn’t be bothered to ring me for 3 days?”

 

Mark let out a defeated sigh.

 

“Is that my shirt?” he asked puzzled.

 

“Yes it is and all I could find to wear this morning. Stop changing the subject.” She found herself blushing.

 

“Look I’m sorry but something came up at the station and I couldn’t get away.”

 

“I cooked and everything. Me; doing the domestic thing. Christ I nearly came to the station to throw it at you….”

 

Mark made to say something.

 

“I know I know we aren’t supposed to fraternize with each other, have to keep it hush hush.” Lily said exasperatedly wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm.

 

Mark placed his hands on her arms.

 

“I know its hard. You know how Green is; one sniff of this and he will throw the book at me.” He said gently. “Hell he will throw the shelf at me.”

 

Lily smirked. She shook his hands off as she noticed Green approaching.

 

“Well thank you Detective your input has been invaluable.” She said with a false smile.

 

Mark looked at her questioningly.

 

“DI Green I have taken some samples and we will analyse them in the lab and will let you know as soon as we have something.”

 

Mark turned to see his superior officer behind him.

 

“Thank you professor.”

 

“Detectives.” Lily said with a smile.

 

Mark watched her retreating back.  

 

“Do us all a favour Robson and keep it in your pants; even if your shirt does look better on her.” Green snarled.

 

 

Hidden out of sight he had waited for them to leave. Growing more impatient by the minute he almost jumped for joy when the women had gone and no one else followed. He made his way over to the bodies and inspected the wounds in some detail. Then he went over to the door. After looking over it with his torch the man reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a pair of sunglasses. He looked at the door with renewed interest.  

 

The Doctor heaved a sigh. He had found it the thing that could mean the end of the universe and he didn’t have the key.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
